Osteosarcoma in Dogs: Diagnosis and Treatment - A Literature Review

Abstract

Among primary bone tumors, osteosarcoma (OSA) is the most diagnosed in dogs. OSA is a highly aggressive tumor and metastatic spread to the lungs contributes to the poor prognosis. Surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy is the current treatment of choice for this disease. However, surgery is not applied in all cases because dog owners disagree with partial or total amputation of the limb. Due to the aggressiveness of the disease, this review aims to gather information about the biological bases of the OSA, to discuss its diagnosis and treatment as well as to serve as an instrument in comparative oncological research encouraging effective diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to be improved and discovered.